Jewish tourists in Jordan have often been instructed by Jordanian security personnel to hide any outward signs of their Jewishness, ostensibly for security reasons. This week a large delegation of Jews traveling to Jordan, including local government officials, were compelled to cover their kippah and remove their tzitzit.
A large group of Israeli deputy mayors were barred from entering Jordan Tuesday morning because some were wearing tzitzit. Entry was not permitted until the tzitzit were removed. The Israeli Foreign Ministry says it is reviewing the incident.
The incident took place at 7:30 a.m., Yisrael Hayom reported, when the group, bound for Petra, gathered at the crossing point into Jordan at the border between Eilat and Aqaba. Delegation members had been told in advance to wear hats or caps to hide their kippot but were shocked upon being refused entry because some were wearing tzitzit.
The presence of the tzitzit set off the Jordanian security guards, witnesses told the newspaper. The guards forced all members of the group to go through a security check three times, and required all of them to remove their clothing. “They did this to all of us, even those who could not be suspected of wearing tzitzit – there were deputy mayors from Abu Ghosh and other Arab towns here,” one member of the delegation said. “The feeling was one of abuse and an effort to make us suffer. It appeared to be a strongly antisemitic act. All the other groups – Ukranians, Koreans and others – crossed into Jordan without a single security check.
“There is supposed to be a peace agreement with Jordan, but I know of no other country where Jews are treated like this for their religious practices,” the delegation member told the newspaper. “The demand that we take off tzitzit in order to enter Jordan is nothing less than antisemitic and another sign of how genuine the ‘peace’ we have with them is. I can only imagine how the Israeli Foreign Ministry would fall all over itself apologizing if anyhing was done that was perceived to be anti-Christian or anti-Muslim,” he added.
This incident reminded me of a short visit to Egypt. Many years ago I spent two days in Cairo, en route to Israel, with no outward signs of my Jewishness. Staying at a small hotel, the night clerk struck up a conversation with me in English. During the course of the conversation it became clear to me that he knew I was Jewish. Overcome by curiosity, I asked him what gave me away. He said he had worked in the tourism industry in Israel for several years, and therefore could discern a Jew easily.
Four years ago New York City Councilman David Greenfield refused to remove his kippah upon leaving the US consulate in Ramallah when the counsul-general’s security detail insisted he not wear a kippah as he left the US office in Ramallah.
